When God Calls…THEY MOVE! {the Cole family}

Today I want to introduce you to one of my phenomenal adoptive momma friends.

Sweet grinnin' Chasity!

Chasity and her beloved husband, Jonathan, have been married since 1997:

We had the DELIGHT of our paths crossing in Uganda together while we were bringing our sons home from that beautiful country. We hung out and did nearly everything together!!

Levy and Zeb 2011 in Uganda

 They are a family who has followed God wherever He leads.
First they had two gorgeous babies the old fashioned way. These babies are now teenagers:

Alex and Reagan

Then God burdened them with adoption. And Uganda. They followed Jesus where He lead them…straight into the arms of two gorgeous sons:

Jude and Levy

They came home the same time Zeb did. What a blessing that God knit our paths together!!
Then, they became burdened for domestic adoption…and they were able to be present for sweet baby Ava's birth and have been soooooo blessed by her presence in their life:

most precious Ava

Recent family pictures were taken and they are soooo adorable, aren't they???

Although they are QUITE busy with their amazing set of five children, the cry of the orphan STILL reaches their tender hearts.
They have learned about the most precious sibling set of three waiting in a nearby state:

And as incredible as it may seem…THEY ARE MAKING ROOM FOR THEM!!!! :)
AMAZING!!!
My friends need $2,000 right NOW to get this started again. I want to see this happen ASAP! 
Even at this writing they only have $1,690 left!! Friends and lovers of adoption, let's knock this out of the park TODAY!!! 
Go here to donate to bring this sibling set into this loving family!! You can follow their story on her blog, All Things His. 
Let's cheer them  on in their obedience to love and care for the orphan!  

A MONUMENTAL DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's time for a HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are you ready!?!?!?!?!

(drum roll please...)

We are FULLY FUNDED for Toby's adoption!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YES!!!! IT IS TRUE!!!!

Our amazing and incredible God brought in $32,000 in just 9 months time to fund the adoption that was HIS IDEA in the first place!!!
HALLELUJAH!!!!

But...

there's more!

WHAT?!?!?!

Did we get Travel Approval? 

Nope.

Listen to this amazing story:

My crazy awesome friend Chasity Cole is also adopting. We adopted in Uganda together back in the summer of 2011. She called me last week to let me know that God had performed a miracle and they were fully funded.

She wanted to help me with funding.

So she invented and pulled off a MOST AMAZING auction. (see previous post!!)

Then, today Tuesday February 26, 2013 God brought the rest of our necessary money in and we now share the status, "Fully funded."

I have a sweet friend, Angie Rylands, who is also adopting as well. (go figure!) This family is adopting TWO children at once from China. (VERY EXPENSIVE!) The two children are older boys...the ones who often get overlooked. A 9 year old boy and a boy who is about to age out (almost turning 14.)

Side note: In China, children are allowed to live in orphanages until they are 14. Upon their 14th birthday they are moved along in life. They are put out on to the streets. If they have any kind of special need, this is a death wish. Sexual slavery, drugs, street life awaits. 15% commit suicide. Most have no education or job skills. At age FOURTEEN. This is a desperate situation.

So, anyway...back to the Rylands...they have been raising a CRAZY amount of money to go and bring these boys home. I often thought, "wow, glad that's not MY amount..." And today...they saw God move mountains as well...

...their number went from $30,000 left on December 1st to $17,000 on January 1st to $12,900 on February 1st...and yesterday their need was $7,778 And today...with our full funding we were blessed to be part of polishing off their need and now they join us as:

FULLY FUNDED!!!!

And this leads us to another family, the Smiths, who are in dire need of funds. They were in China last August adopting and fell in love with this sweet girl who is deaf: 

Guan Ya

They knew that God had her for their family and they worked their tails off to return to China to bring her home. One problem...she ages out on March 8th!! They leave in THREE DAYS to go bring her home before she ages out...so Angie and I thought we would help THEM raise their final funds!! 

God has blessed each of us: Chasity, us, the Rylands...now it's time to bless the Smiths!!

But wait!!!

SCREEECH!!!

They are now only $200 odd dollars away from ALSO BEING FULLY FUNDED!!!!!

So I was telling Niki, "We are going to blow that outta the park!" And she said, "Nope! Got someone on it! Go find someone else!!"

HA!!! LOVE IT!!

So...we now issue out a challenge from ALL of us:

CHASITY, ANGIE, NIKI and MYSELF:

We want you to help us get Jennifer's daughter home!!!

Jennifer has traveled to China multiple times and has ministered to many orphans over her trips. There is one orphanage especially founded for children with Brittle Bone Disease. There is one very special child who has captured Jennifer's heart in a way unlike any other orphan ever has. 

Jesus whispered, "She is yours."

So along with some red tape that none of us can do anything about...Jennifer needs funding to be able to travel to get this sweet child and attend to her medical and spiritual needs.

Now one of the most AMAZING things is that Jennifer is the CEO of the non-profit ministry Into the Field that exists to serve as servants around the corner and around the world. A huge passion is loving orphans home. Once Jennifer's adoption is FULLY FUNDED then monies will be available for other adoptive families in grants! In other words: IT KEEPS ON GIVING!!! TOO COOL!!

So go here and keep the momentum rolling! Donate to her Razoo link on the sidebar! $15,000 is the number to hit! Ready...set...GO!!!

Join with us as we link arms as a body of Christ to help MORE ORPHANS HOME!!! LINK UP!!

(And please pray for each of our families as we go through the amazing process of adding a children into our families! This is delicate heart work and we need TONS of grace, patience and wisdom from God Himself!!)

Beautiful Things--Our Story

This is the video that God showed me in my mind while driving to an appointment earlier this week. "Beautiful Things" by Gungor came on the radio...and I watched the story of my life go by.

I was filled with joy and sheer awe. Tears were in my eyes and my heart was bursting!

Sometimes when you are living in a story, you don't always see the big picture!

God put this video together in my mind...and I came home and created what I saw. Special thanks to Brian Bagley for our airport homecoming footage!

As you see, Toby is patiently waiting for us to come for him. We are in the final weeks preparing to travel to bring him home! We still have $8,500 yet to raise in order to travel.

We have been graciously blessed by our church, Crossroads of Wauseon and Lifesong for Orphans, with a matching grant! Every amount given up to our grant will be DOUBLED! All money after that amount will come 100% to our adoption account payable for our adoption expenses. 

Will you prayerfully consider a gift to help us finish the task of bringing Toby home?

You can easily give online using the link on our sidebar: Lifesong for Orphans. Please follow the instructions below the picture.

However, if you would like to avoid the 1.9-2.9% Paypal service fee please write a check directly to Lifesong for Orphans. Your gift is tax deductible.  In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to the named non-profit organization. This organization retains full discretion over its use, but intends to honor the donor's suggested use. 

Mail checks to:

Lifesong for Orphans

PO Box 40

202 N. Ford St.

Gridley, IL 61744

Please write: Preference SHAW 3330 in the memo line.

We are forever grateful for the ways others have helped us fulfill what God has called us to do. In the words of Ashley Moreno,"We have been called to help heal, with God's help, a child who has suffered the profound damage of being unwanted and unloved. We are obediently living out the command given in James 1:27 to care for the orphan, clothing the gospel of Christ's redemption in flesh and blood. We are asking the body of Christ to come alongside us prayerfully and financially...to become part of the miracle of what God is doing!"